


Skin

by reedpayne



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: M/M, Mentions of Cancer, tw: cancer
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-04
Updated: 2013-02-04
Packaged: 2017-11-28 04:12:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,415
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/670136
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/reedpayne/pseuds/reedpayne
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Niall has leukemia and Liam takes him to prom.</p><p>Songfic based on the song Skin (Sara Beth) by Rascal Flatts</p>
            </blockquote>





	Skin

**Author's Note:**

> Special thanks to David (alwaystheindian) on Tumblr for going through and editing this for me! He is truly the greatest.

“SaraBeth is scared to death  
To hear what the doctor will say  
She hasn’t been well since the day that she fell  
And the bruise, it just won’t go away  
So she sits and she waits with her mother and dad  
And flips through an old magazine  
Till the nurse with a smile stands at the door  
And says ‘Will you please come with me?’”

Niall sat in the waiting room at the doctor’s office while flipping through an old Better Home and Garden magazine from October of 2009. He sighed and threw the magazine down onto the small table in front of him.

“It’ll be okay, Niall,” his mother, Maura, tried to comfort him; he wasn’t really listening to her. She sighed as well and turned back to his father, Bobby, with a worried expression.

Niall’s left hand wandered in an absentminded stroll to his right shoulder, gently touching the huge bruise that had resided there for the past three weeks. Niall had been leaving the school building, trying to balance all of his things in his arms, when he had tripped and fallen down a couple of stairs. The fall smashed his shoulder into the railing and ripped his backpack open. Papers flooded from his bag into the wind like a mocking tornado. Niall winced at the memory of the searing pain that he had been in.

“Excuse me, Niall Horan?” A nurse poked her head out of the door leading to the exam rooms. She had a warm smile and kind eyes. Niall and his parents stood up, and she beckoned them back. “Please, come with me.”

“SaraBeth is scared to death  
Cause the doctor just told her the news  
Between the red cells and white, something’s not right  
But we’re gonna take care of you  
Six chances in ten it won’t come back again  
With the therapy we’re gonna try  
It’s just been approved it’s the strongest there is  
And I think we caught it in time”

Niall felt like bursting into tears right then and there, but he had to be strong; he knew he did. His mother was already sobbing into his father’s shoulder and asking why this happened to her Niall, to her little baby.

Why did he have to have cancer?

“There’s a 60% chance it won’t come back again with the chemo we’re going to try,” the doctor said, wearing his best facade to give the family some hope.

Some hope was better than no hope.

“How strong is it?” Niall asked in a small voice and stared down at his hands as if he had found something interesting in the lines of his palm. He was trying so hard not to cry, but it was proving to be very difficult.

What had he done to make himself deserve this?

Was he a bad person?

“It’s just been approved its the strongest there is,” the doctor’s voice was pained. Niall heard him sigh deeply, ruffling through some papers. “But I’m confident we’ve caught it in time. I believe you can get through this, Niall.”

“SaraBeth closes her eyes…  
And she dreams she’s dancing  
Around and around without any cares  
And her very first love is holding her close  
And the soft wind is blowing her hair”

Niall closed his eyes and buried his face in his hands. He let the tears fall now, no longer able to hold them back.

Niall let himself drift off into a daydream. He imagined himself in the arms of the one he loves, dancing around and not caring about anything except the proximity of their bodies with each other. He could feel the wind blowing through his hair, and he laughed. He felt carefree and loved.

But then the bricks of reality hit him again, and he looked up from his hands. He wiped his face, taking a deep breath.

“I have cancer, and I’m going to beat it,” he promised himself.

“SaraBeth is scared to death  
As she sits holding her mom  
Cause it would be a mistake for someone to take  
A girl with no hair to the prom  
Oh just this morning right there on her pillow  
Was the cruellest of any surprise  
And she cried when she gathered it all in her hands  
The proof that she couldn’t deny”

Niall woke up to the sound of his alarm clock. Groaning, he turned it off and sat up, and ran his hands through his hair - only, his hands met nothing but skin. His heart skipped a beat as he turned around and saw what was not there. Niall let out a choked sob at the sight of his bleach blond hair covering his pillow instead of his head.

Maura, having heard his choked sob, ran up the stairs and into his room. The second she saw him, she enveloped him in a hug, pulling him tight against her chest. Niall let out another sob, hugging her back with the grasp of a ship to its anchor.

“Oh, Nialler. I’m so sorry,” Maura whispered, stroking his bald head. She continued to murmur in his ear as he slowly calmed down; sobs turned into light hiccups.

“Really can’t deny it now, can I?” Niall said in a broken voice. He gathered the dead strands of his hair up. He held them in his hands, not wanting to believe this was truly happening to him.

“Now Liam is never going to want to take me to prom…”

“SaraBeth closes her eyes…  
And she dreams she’s dancing  
Around and around without any cares  
And her very first love was holding her close  
And the soft wind is blowing her hair”

Niall lets his eyes drift closed once again and imagined himself at the prom, safe in the arms of Liam, the boy he was desperately in love with. He could once again feel the wind blowing through his hair, making him feel even more comfortable. It felt like being alive.

His mother shook him back into reality then and he gave a deep sigh, wishing that he was a normal teenage boy able to enjoy his last year of high school.

“It’s a quarter to seven, that boys at the door  
And her daddy ushers him in  
And when he takes off his cap  
They all start to cry  
Cause this morning where his hair had been  
Softly she touches just skin…”

Niall groaned as his mother straightened his bow tie for the hundredth time that night. He was starting to get impatient with her, and he wished Liam would just hurry up and get here before he did something he regretted.

Finally, he heard the bell ring.

Bobby jumped up to get it and escorted a dapper looking Liam into the kitchen where Maura and Niall waited.

A confused look crossed Niall’s face when he saw that Liam had a SnapBack secure on his head. Grinning, Liam reached up and pulled the hat off. They all gasped at the sight, and Niall couldn’t help but cry - but this time, they were tears of happiness. He tentatively reached a hand up and ran it across Liam’s head; his hand encountered nothing but… skin.

“And they go dancing  
Around and around without any cares  
And her very first true love is holding her close  
And for a moment she isn’t scared…”

Liam pulled Niall close to him, twirling around the middle of the dance floor. They were aware that quite a lot of people were watching them, but they only had eyes for each other.

The proximity Niall had dreamed if was a reality. They were dancing without a care in the world. Liam’s warmth, Liam’s waist, and Liam’s acceptance melded into a single perfect moment.

“Thank you so much for this, Liam,” Niall murmured, a blinding smile on his face.

“Anything for you, Niall,” Liam replied, returning the smile. He leaned in slowly and placed a kiss to Niall’s lips.

Everything was soft and wet, full of hot breath and the taste of bubblegum. There was a clinking of teeth and a connection.

Ancient tribes believed a kiss was the sharing of a soul. In that moment there was no cancer, no cue ball heads, no staring eyes. There was Liam, Niall, a single soul.

It didn’t matter that Niall had cancer; it didn’t matter that he might never recover from it. All that mattered is that they were here now, wrapped up in each other, completely and utterly in love.


End file.
